Creamers are widely used as whitening agents with hot and cold beverages such as, for example, coffee, cocoa, tea, etc. They are commonly used in place of milk and/or dairy cream. Creamers may come in a variety of different flavours and provide mouthfeel, body, and a smoother texture. Creamers can be in liquid or powder forms. A liquid creamer may be intended for storage at ambient temperatures or under refrigeration, and should be stable during storage without phase separation, creaming, gelation and sedimentation. The creamer should also retain a constant viscosity over time. When added to cold or hot beverages such a coffee or tea, the creamer should dissolve rapidly, provide a good whitening capacity, and remain stable with no feathering and/or sedimentation while providing a superior taste and mouthfeel. Mouthfeel, also denoted richness, texture or creaminess, is usually provided by an oil emulsion present in the creamer.
Flavours may be added to creamers, for example US20140044854 describes adding flavours such as vanilla to a creamer. It would be advantageous to be able to add complex flavour notes to creamers in an efficient manner. These would enhance the flavour of the beverage with which the creamer was combined. Although many commercially extracted and synthesised flavours are available, different aroma compound mixtures provide different sensory characteristics. There is a need to provide new flavour generation processes which can efficiently generate desirable mixtures of aroma compounds, preferably in reaction mixtures suitable for direct incorporation into foodstuffs such as creamers.
An object of the present invention is to improve the state of the art and to provide an improved solution to overcome at least some of the inconveniences described above, or at least to provide a useful alternative. Any reference to prior art documents in this specification is not to be considered an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of the common general knowledge in the field. As used in this specification, the words “comprises”, “comprising”, and similar words, are not to be interpreted in an exclusive or exhaustive sense. In other words, they are intended to mean “including, but not limited to”. The object of the present invention is achieved by the subject matter of the independent claims. The dependent claims further develop the idea of the present invention.